1 Kings 13 - The Man of God from Judah

A. A prophecy from a man
of God.

1.
(1-2) The coming destruction of the altar in Bethel.

And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the
word of the Lord, and Jeroboam
stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the
word of the Lord, and said, “O
altar, altar! Thus says the Lord:
‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on
you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

a. A man of God went from Judah to Bethel:
Apparently, there were no qualified messengers within the northern kingdom of
Israel. This is a sad commentary on the spiritual state of Jeroboam’s kingdom.

i. This
anonymous man of God was used in an
important way. He demonstrates that one does not need to be famous to be
significantly used by God.

b. Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the
house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places
who burn incense on you: This is a remarkable prophecy that would be
precisely fulfilled 340 years later. 2 Kings 23:15 documents the fulfillment of this
prophecy in the days of Josiah, King of Judah: Moreover the altar
that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and
the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to
powder, and burned the wooden image.

i. This was more than a pronouncement of judgment against the altar; it
also announced that the judgment would come through a ruler of Judah (the house of David). This was a special rebuke
and source of concern to Jeroboam, who was always aware of the threat from his
neighbor to the south (as in 1 Kings 12:27).

ii. We know that this didn’t happen for some 350 years, but
Jeroboam didn’t know that in advance. He went to his grave worried about the
fulfillment of this prophecy, which was a sort of immediate judgment on
Jeroboam.

2.
(3-5) Signs to confirm the prophet’s words.

And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the
sign which the Lord has spoken:
Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”
So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who
cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he
stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then
his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not
pull it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes
poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given
by the word of the Lord.

a. He gave a sign the same day:
The prophecy of the man of God would not be fulfilled for hundreds of years, so
an immediate sign was given to confirm the word to the present-day hearers.

b. Surely
the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out:
This would be a convincing sign, and a direct rebuke to the idolatrous worship
at that altar.

c. Arrest
him! Jeroboam’s reaction was immediate - he sought to silence the
messenger rather than respond to the message. The prophecy from the man of God
was like most every message of coming judgment - an implicit invitation to
repentance. Jeroboam obviously did not accept this invitation.

i. “If
Jeroboam would not have Jehovah’s priests,
God sends His prophet into his land.”
(Knapp)

d. His
hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it
back to himself: God confirmed His word of judgment in two ways.
First, He judged the disobedient king at the precise point of his most glaring
sin (the outstretched hand against the man of God). Second, He fulfilled the
immediate word against the altar (the altar also
was split apart).

i. “This
God did, partly, to chastise Jeroboam for offering violence to the Lord’s
prophet; partly, to secure the prophet against further violence; and partly,
that in this example God might show how highly he resents the injuries done to
his ministers in and for the faithful discharge of their office.” (Poole)

3.
(6) Jeroboam’s plea.

Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please
entreat the favor of the Lord
your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of
God entreated the Lord, and the
king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

a. Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my
hand may be restored: Under the evident judgment of God, Jeroboam
had no use for golden calves or their altars. He knew that his only hope was in
the Lord and in His
representative.

i. As
the subsequent chapters will show, Jeroboam didn’t really repent here; or if he
did, it was only for a moment. Wanting to receive something from God is not the
same as repentance.

b. So
the man of God entreated the Lord,
and the king’s hand was restored to him: To his credit, the man of
God showed great grace to Jeroboam. He quickly moved from being under arrest to
being an intercessor for his persecutor. This was great mercy from the man of
God, and especially from God - who answered his prayer.

i. God
did this, “Partly, to assure him that the stroke was from God; partly, because
he repented of that violence which he intended against the prophet, for which
God inflicted it; and partly, that the goodness of God to him might have led
him to repentance; or if he continued impenitent, leave him without all
excuse.” (Poole)

4.
(7-10) The man of God declines Jeroboam’s invitation.

Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and
refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” But the man of God said to the
king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor
would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by
the word of the Lord, saying,
‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you
came.’“ So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

a. I will give you a reward:
Jeroboam quickly - and naturally, given the circumstances - embraced the man of
God as a friend. He wanted to refresh
and reward him, without any repentance
from the sin the man of God denounced.

b. If
you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I
eat bread nor drink water in this place: The man of God refused the
invitation, based on a prior warning from God. To accept Jeroboam’s invitation
would demonstrate fellowship with his idolatry.

B. The man of God’s
disobedience and death.

1.
(11-17) An old prophet in Bethel invites the man of
God to dinner.

Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and
told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they
also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. And their
father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen which way the
man of God went who came from Judah. Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the
donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, and went
after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him,
“Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”
Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” And he said, “I cannot return
with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you
in this place. For I have been told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor
return by going the way you came.’ “

a. Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel:
It seems that this was a faithful prophet to the Lord. This demonstrates that not every godly person left
Israel for Judah; some still remained behind.

i.
“Probably once a prophet of the Lord, who had fallen from his steadfastness,
and yet not so deeply as to lose the knowledge of the true God, and join with
Jeroboam with his idolatries.” (Clarke)

b. Come
home with me and eat bread: This prophet from Bethel invited the
unnamed man of God to his home, as Jeroboam had invited him. The man of God
refused, under the same reason he refused Jeroboam - that God had specifically
told him to return to Judah without accepting hospitality, and to return a
different way (also in 1 Kings 13:10).

2.
(18-19) The prophet from Bethel lies to the man of God
from Judah.

He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and
an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord,
saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink
water.’ “ (He was lying to him.) So he went back with
him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

a. He was lying to him:
The prophet from Bethel gave a false word from God, trying to persuade the man
of God from Judah to change his course from doing exactly what God told him.

i. “As
he found the man of God sitting under an oak, probably faint with fatigue
and fasting, for he had no refreshment, his humanity might have
led him to practise this deception, in order to
persuade him to take some refreshment.” (Clarke)

ii. “But his sin was great; for he
did not only tell a premeditated lie, but also made God a liar, and to
contradict himself, and all this without any pretence of necessity, or benefit
to himself.” (Poole)

b. An
angel spoke to me: Perhaps this was true, and perhaps it was a deceiving
angel. Satan and his messengers can appear as angels of light (2 Corinthians
11:14-15).

c. So
he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water:
The man of God from Judah listened to the lie from the prophet of Bethel. He
did this for several reasons:

·The prophet from Bethel was probably older (an
old prophet, 1 Kings 13:11) and had the respect of the man of God.

·The prophet from Bethel identified with the man
of God (I too am a prophet as you are).

·The prophet from Bethel claimed to speak for the
Lord (by
the word of the Lord).

·The prophet from Bethel did not seem to be an
idolater who should be shunned (Bring him back
with you to your house).

·The prophet from Bethel offered no reward, other
than simple food (he may eat bread and drink
water).

i. No
matter how natural and seductive this enticement was, it was the duty of the
man of God to resist it. He had a word from God to guide his actions, and
should receive no other word accept through dramatic and direct
confirmation by God’s Spirit. His failure at this point ended his usefulness as
a man of God.

ii. “When we have received a
direct command fresh from the lips of Christ, we must act on it, and not be
turned aside by a different suggestion, made to us through the lips of
professing Christians . . . Deal with God at first-hand.” (Meyer)

iii. “God never contradicts
Himself in His dealings with His servants. Let us be true to His commands,
refusing to be deflected from the path of obedience, even by an angel from
heaven.” (Morgan)

3.
(20-22) The prophet from Bethel prophesies the doom of
the man of God.

Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of
the Lord came to the prophet who
had brought him back; and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah,
saying, “Thus says the Lord:
‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord,
and have not kept the commandment which the Lord
your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the
place of which the Lord said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,”
your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ”

a. The word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back:
This prophet from Bethel spoke a lie in the name of the Lord in 1 Kings 13:18. Now he received
a true prophecy while the man of God from Judah ate at his table.

b. Because
you have disobeyed the word of the Lord:
God promised great judgment against the man of God from Judah for his
disobedience. This was a hard test, but he failed it. He should have kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded, no matter how subtle and
innocent the temptation was to disobey.

c. Your
corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers: God judged the
man of God from Judah far more strictly than He judged Jeroboam or the prophet
from Bethel. It would seem that they were guilty of worse sins (leading
national idolatry and a deliberate lying prophecy), yet the man of God received
worse judgment.

i. “For a body to lie unburied was
a curse, hence the emphasis on detail of the place of burial. It was a
disgrace to be buried away from the family among strangers.” (Wiseman)

ii. This is an example of an
important principle of the way God works. We think that strict judgment should
begin among the most ungodly, but often God begins strict judgment among His
own people (1 Peter 4:17). Usually this is because God knows that the world
will not be reached when His people are compromising and disobedient.

iii. “By permitting himself to be
seduced by the old prophet, when he should have acted only on the expressly
declared counsel of God, he committed the sin unto death [1 John
5:16-17]; that is, such a sin as God will punish with the death of the body,
while he extends mercy to his soul.” (Clarke)

4.
(23-25a) The word of the prophet from Bethel is
fulfilled.

So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk,
that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. When
he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was
thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the
corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the
lion standing by the corpse.

a. A lion met him on the road and
killed him: The word - the second word - of the prophet from
Bethel was fulfilled. He didn’t say that the man of God would perish by a lion,
but that he would not be buried in the tomb of his fathers.

i. “Lions were attested in
Palestine until at least the thirteenth century a.d.” (Wiseman)

b. And
there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion
standing by the corpse: This demonstrates that this was no mere
accident, but something unique from God. The lion did not attack the donkey (the donkey stood by it), nor did he attack the men who passed by.
This lion was on a special mission of judgment from God, and seems to be more
obedient than the man of God from Judah was.

5.
(25b-32) The man of God is given a decent burial and
the prophet from Bethel testifies to his prophecy.

Then they went and told it in the city where the old
prophet dwelt. Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard
it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the
word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion,
which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.” And he
spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it.
Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the
lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the
donkey. And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the
donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and
to bury him. Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over
him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” So it was, after he had buried him,
that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb
where the man of God is buried; lay my bones
beside his bones. For the saying which he cried out by the
word of the Lord against the
altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in
the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.”

a. So the old prophet came to the
city to mourn, and to bury him: The old prophet from Bethel was
sympathetic to the man of God from Judah, even in his disobedience and
resulting judgment. The prophet from Bethel was not a particularly righteous
man or good prophet, having used a lying prophecy to lead the man of God into
sin and judgment. He recognized the common weakness of this fellows
servant of God.

i. How
strange it was for the old prophet to look upon the carcass of the dead
prophet, and to realize: “My sin is worse than his.” The ways of God’s judgment
are sometimes past finding out, and only
understandable from eternity.

b. He
laid the corpse in his own tomb: Not in the tomb of the man of God
from Judah’s fathers, in fulfillment of the previous prophecy.

c. When
I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God isburied; lay
my bones beside his bones: Though he lied to him, led him into sin,
and prophesied judgment against him, the prophet from Bethel still respected
the man of God from Judah. Perhaps he understood that the word he spoke against
the Jeroboam required a courage he did not have; therefore he confirmed the
word of the man of God against Jeroboam and the altar at Bethel.

6.
(33-34) No repentance from Jeroboam.

After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way,
but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places;
whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of
the high places. And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to
exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

a. After this event Jeroboam did not turn
from his evil way: He should have turned, but he did not.
God’s dealing with the man of God from Judah was warning enough to Jeroboam,
but it was a warning he ignored.

i. “All
these wonderful accidents, as God’s hammers, did but beat upon cold iron.”
(Trapp)

b. He
became one of the priests of the high places: In ancient Israel, God
commanded a strict separation between the office of king and priest. Jeroboam
blurred this separation and this thing was the
sin of the house of Jeroboam.

i.
Jeroboam had great opportunity, especially in light of the promise of God
through Ahijah recorded in 1 Kings 11:38: Then it
shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is
right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David
did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built
for David, and will give Israel to you. Jeroboam did not obey God and honor
His commandments, and he never fulfilled his potential or promise.

ii. The same principle works in
servants of God today. We are not called because of obedience, or used out of
merit; but our disobedience hinders our potential for full use. Paul put it
this way in 2 Timothy 2:21: Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the
latter [works of dishonor], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified
and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. God uses vessels
of honor, separation, usefulness, and preparation to their fullest potential.

iii. In his failure, Jeroboam
became the prototype of the disobedient kings of Israel. The phrase He did
evil in the sight of the Lord,
and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel
sin was used of many subsequent kings of Israel. These include:

·Baasha (1 Kings
15:33-34)

·Omri (1 Kings
16:25-26)

·Ahaziah (1 Kings
22:51-52)

·Jehoram (2 Kings
3:1-3)

·Jehu (2 Kings
10:29-31)

·Jehoahaz (2 Kings
13:1-2)

·Jehoash (2 Kings
13:10-11)

·Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23-24)

·Zechariah (2 Kings 15:8-9)

·Menahim (2 Kings
15:17-18)

·Pekahiah (2 Kings
15:23-24)

·Pekah (2 Kings
15:27-28).

iv. One curious exception was
Ahab, who was noted as worse than Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:30-31).

v. Jeroboam had great opportunity,
but instead became a great curse to every generation of the northern kingdom
after that. Even at the end of the Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam’s sin was
remembered: For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made
Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove
Israel from following the Lord,
and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the
sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight,
as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away
from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. (2 Kings 17:21-23)

vi. All in all, Jeroboam is an
example of sinful failure.

·He failed despite great blessing and favor from
God.

·He failed for the sake of mere political
advantage.

·He failed and led an entire nation into
idolatry.

·He failed despite specific warnings to repent.

·He failed despite specific judgment and
deliverance from that judgment.